Otis Clay – Trying To Live My Life Without You album art
Hi Records, 1972
The debut album of Otis Clay (1942–2016) from 1972 combines big green type with a photograph by William Cantrell. The swashy letterforms are from West Behemoth Italic — possibly with some customizations like shortened ascenders of h or l, for a tighter setting. The glyphs included in this sample demonstrate how close the knockoff Stymie Black Italic (or Flair) is to Dave West’s design. The differences here are mainly in the counters of e or v. Also, the copy didn’t include a y with diagonal as shown here.
The cover was designed by Farmlett, Barsanti & Wood Inc., a design firm founded in 1966 by Tony Barsanti (1931–2018) and Harry Farmlett (1932–2016). Located in Manhattan on 208 Fifth Ave., it wasn’t too far away from the Photo-Lettering office on 216 E 45th St.
Fat Possum reissue, 2013
